Day 8 - St. Petersburg

Day 8 – Sunday 7^th September 2014 – St. Petersburg

This morning, breakfast in the self-service Lido restaurant and it is quiet, as once again most of the guests are away on the tour buses.

With our success of yesterday with the transport system, we had no hesitation in using it again and headed for the 10.30, 158 bus from the cruise terminal, which took us to the first metro station of Primorskaya on the Green line.

Escalator

 

Art Work

Two stops to Gostiny Dvor and along the marble walkway admiring the art work to the Nevsky Prospekt station on the Blue line.  One stop to another of the major interchanges at Sennya Ploscad and along to Sadovaya station on the Purple line.

Then one more stop to Admiralteyskaya station and back up the escalator to the street.  With a metro  map and easy to follow coloured signs; trains which run every three minutes and at a cost of 28 rubles (50 pence) from entering to leaving the system, it is certainly one of the very best city transport system, I have come across.

Hermitage & Square

When you emerge from the metro you come onto the main street of Nevisky Prospekt and a short walk to the end and when turning the corner, the building before you takes your breath away.  The Hermitage, in Palace Square which incorporates the Winter Palace, its unique white facades reflecting while the ornate columns, roof balustrades, gold leaved figures and domes glistening in the sunlight, it is a photographers dream come true.

Hermitage overlooking River Neva

 

Admiralty

The other side of the Hermitage overlooks the Neva River with one of the main bridges spanning the river, nearby on the road opposite, the impressive Admiralty building.

Peter and Paul Fortress

On the other side of the river on an island is the first building to be erected in the city which was the Peter and Paul Fortress where the remains of Nicholas II and his family (the last Czar) are buried.  Peter the Great is buried in the cathedral at the centre of the fortress.

Time to go inside The Hermitage, one of the largest museums in the world, and occupies a grand ensemble of buildings.  The most impressive is the Winter Palace, to which Catherine the Great added the more intimate Small Hermitage.  In 1771-87, she built the Large Hermitage to house her growing collection of art.  The Theatre was built in 1785-87, the New Hermitage in 1839-51.  The New and Large Hermitages were opened up by Nichols I in 1852 as a public museum.

Staircase

They all display a marvellous collection of art treasures and paintings from all over the world – so extensive the tourist can only glimpse a fraction of the 12 miles of corridors and exhibits.

 

On entering the Winter Palace, the first thing to strike you is the amazing staircase with a definite WOW factor, which must have taken aback, every visiting dignitary on their first visit to pay their respects to the ruling Czars.

As you ascend this staircase and enter the state rooms, it is all jaw dropping stuff.  These rooms which are presently showing many exhibits of the clothes worn in those days, mostly women’s long extravagant dresses with men in military uniforms; the colours, intricate patterns and needlework are amazing.

Gold Room

   

Writing Room

As you wander from one room to the next, ones for ceremonies, private writing and libraries and the exquisite furnishings, gives an insight into the extravagant life style of the ruling Romanov family.

Library

  

As you passed along highly decorated corridors some with tapestry masterpieces, it was all becoming a little overpowering.

Tapesteries

It is impossible to see all in one day, but in the short time available, quickly going through the main parts, I came away, after witnessing all of this opulence of wealth, lavishness, a superabundance of art treasures, for one family living in a building of such magnificence, it is of no wonder, there was a revolution in Russia in 1917.

From the Palace Square a walk along the canal, you pass Pushkin (great poet) House Museum, further along is the Imperial Stables, a long, salmon-coloured building running parallel to the Moyka canal embankment.

Church of Spiller Blood Front

Rear

Around the corner and another iconic building hits you, the Church on Spilled Blood.

Also known as the Resurrection Church of our Saviour, was built on the spot where on 1^st March 1881, Tsar Alexander II was assassinated.

Moyka Canal

Nevskiy Propekt

Following the canal, which is similar to Amsterdam with the many tourist trip boats passing by, you come back onto the main street of Nevskiy Prospekt which is three miles long and Russia’s most famous, is lined with churches, banks, palaces and shops.

Shopping Arcade

Looking into one of the shopping arcades, I was amazed at the amount of luxury goods.  When I was last in Russia over forty years ago, the population had very little and would queue in shops with little on display for hours, to purchase the bare necessities to survive.  The populace are now very well dressed in the latest Western fashions, obviously now they have money and goods to spend it on.

It was time to disappear back down into the metro station at Gostiny Dvor station and two stops on the Green line to our destination at Primorskaya and boarded the number 158 bus back to the cruise terminal.  I had arrived in St. Petersburg with a pocket full of rubles, expecting to do a lot of taxi rides, going from one cemetery to another, but it did not turn out this way.

Therefore, in the terminal into the duty free and souvenir shops to relieve me of some of this cash, and back on board for 17.00.  Straight to the Golden Lion for a pint; the place was packed with people watching the last laps of the Italian Grand Prix motor race.

Kronstadt

We sailed at 18.00 and prior to going for dinner, we passed Kotlin Island and it's port of Kronstadt. It was a beautiful sunlit evening and I raised my glass from the cabin balcony, to my Grandfather and told him, he had not been forgotten.

Dined on asparagus soup; fillet steak; black forest gateau which were all superb.

Into the theatre and entertained by a boy’s band called Troubadour.  The group of four male vocalists gave an exceptional good performance.

To finished off the night dance, the last waltz in the ballroom.

St. Petersburg really impressed me; I would need to spend a lot more time there, to appreciate this magnificent city.